1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus for comminuting, and to methods of comminuting, more particularly, to comminuting materials comprising solid material and/or liquid material.
1. Description of the Prior Art
There exist many devices and many methods for comminuting materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,298,411 discloses a comminuting apparatus. Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the apparatus includes a plurality of disks 34, 35, 36 and 37 perforated with circular holes, the disks fitting snugly against and in slidable engagement with the inside wall of a receptacle 27. The disks are loosely disposed in a relatively horizontal position. To commence comminuting, a drill press 10 is started which causes a pad 20 to rotate, and as an operator lever 11 is moved, the pad 20 comes into contact with the uppermost disk 34 and causes this disk to rotate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,066,215 discloses a disk for a grinder. Referring to FIG. 6, disks 1 having apertures 3 are mounted on their central orifices 5 (see FIG. 1) on a rotatable agitating shaft 6.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,117,981 discloses a stirring mill which includes a separating device. Referring to FIG. 2, the separating device has a plurality of annular disks each having apertures 40 and being disposed on a mixing shaft 7, annular disks 23 and 24 being non-rotatably connected with the moving shaft 7. Annular disks 26 and 27 are radially and axially movable with respect to the mixing shaft 7. The disks 23 and 24 are made axially immovable by means of spacing rings 31, 32, 33 and spacing bushings 34 and 35.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,917 discloses sand mill rotor disks. Referring to FIG. 3, a rotor 14 includes a shaft 16 and a plurality of axially spaced rotor disks 18, the rotor disks each having ports 40 and including a tubular hub 28 secured to the shaft 16 by a pin 30 which extends diametrically through a hole 31.
Such apparatus and methods all suffer from various drawbacks, including insufficient throughput capability, insufficient uniformity of products, insufficient reliability, insufficient durability and high initial and/or maintenance cost, among others.